because
by xenovia
Summary: Seto encounters a group of bullies after school. The outcome isn't exactly what he expects. — Light SetoKano for SetoKano day.


Seto accepted the fact that he was born a weakling long ago. He's tiny and he's feminine and apparently that is all the more for the bullies to torment him and pull his hair and toss him into dark corners and lock him in empty classrooms. They never leave him alone despite his pleas and his apologies for being the way he is, and if anything, it makes them push him around even more. He more often than not finds himself cornered when he thinks he's alone, and he returns home constantly to Ayano and Ayaka and Kenjirou and his brother and sister with bruises and scrapes that he tries his best to hide.

It never really works out for him even then, though. Kido always finds out and she scolds him and afterwards asks for the exact names of those messing with them. Even though she beats them to a pulp, there's more to follow, and Seto's stuck with lines of countless tormentors teasing him and kicking him and making him feel like the dirt beneath their feet once again. It's torture, he always thinks, but he can't do anything to stop it - and neither can Kido, no matter how hard she tries, nor Ayano, with her sweet smiles and threatening glares.

He sighs noiselessly to himself when school is let out and he is nearly trampled upon simply walking out of the building. He hides his face beneath the hoodie Ayano had given him - a yellow hairpin rests to keep his bangs out of his face and he knows all too well that it's 'girly'. It has a flower design and a little flower sticking on it as well, and Seto knows that if he encounters them, they'll beat him up. Just like they always do.

The little boy manages to cut away from the throng of people and towards the clustered woods that eventually lead to his home, but he's not lucky enough. He never is.

"My, my, if it isn't little Kousuke," a taller, stockier boy spits from behind a tree, and Seto stops in his tracks immediately, tensing up. He turns around slowly to be greeted with the painfully familiar faces of his tormentors. One on the far right sneers at him, and the one beside that boy giggles loudly.

"Where'd you get that hoodie? Did your precious _mommy _make it for you?" He frowns as they all start laughing. What's wrong with his mom? Ayaka's a sweet woman. And no, he thinks, Ayano made it. Ayano gave it to me. I love Ayano, and I love Ayaka too. I don't see what's so funny here.

"Mommy's boy," one sings, stepping up to Seto and ripping the hoodie off of his form. He only has time to gasp in shock as the bully throws it to the mud and stomps on it, pressing it further into the wet ground. Seto already feels tears stinging at the corner of his eyes, and his blood runs cold when the leader of the little gang points up at him.

"Is that a flower hairpin? Ha! Seto's a girl, Seto's a girl!" He begins chanting it and all the others join him, circling around Seto as he feels a salty tear stream down his red face. What'd he ever do to them? One steps out of the circle and shoves Seto forward and another boy catches him. Soon enough, they begin to make a game of shoving Seto to another boy, and Seto eventually falls onto the ground, scraping his knees on rocks and twigs and getting mud all over his clothes.

"Why don't you already start wearing dresses?" one questions, leaning forward intimidatingly. "Pretty princess Seto," he titters.

"Seto's even more of a girl than his ugly sister," another bully pipes up. "That one with the green hair." A boy with blond hair's face contorts in disgust.

"Ew, Kido? She's his sister?" He points a disgusted glower at Seto and kicks mud at him, snorting. "I don't like her. She really _is _ugly." Seto's lip quivers at this and his fists tremble in anger. His face is already wet with his endless tears, but he can't do anything but sit there as the entire group attacks him with both words and physical contact.

"Girly, girly Seto. Where'd you even get that stupid hair clip?" The leader walks forward and rips it right out of Seto's hair, not caring as the boy screeches in pain with the hair ripped out along with it He grins sadistically at the yellow ornament and throws it harshly to the ground like the other boy had done with his hoodie and slams his foot down on it, snapping it in half with ease. They all cackle and Seto can't hold back his wailing anymore.

"Hey!" Everyone turns around to see a short girl with wavy blonde hair staring at them, hands on her hips and eyes a burning, fiery red. "Back away from the boy." The leader blinks at her in disbelief. Seto's eyes widen as they finally land on the girl's form.

"Who are you?" he inquires, snatching the front of her shirt and yanking her up into the air, nose nearly touching hers. She doesn't flinch; instead, she smiles, hand reaching to the back of his neck and her knee jutting in between his legs. Her smile widens after he chokes in pain and stumbles backward. She pauses for a moment, tilting her head to the side.

"His girlfriend, of course."

They all stand there in shock as the blonde-haired girl whisks past them to Seto, picking him up off the ground with ease. She picks up the two halves of the hairpin and the filthy hoodie, flips them the bird, and walks off with her hand held tight in Seto's.

"…Kano?" he asked quietly. Kano turned around with a serious look in her eyes despite the goofy smile on her face. "…Why'd you do that?"

"Because you're my brother," (s)he said, tightening his grip on Seto's hand. "And they're stupid. Stupid for thinking that being a girl—" he removed the mask he had that gave him the appearance of a girl, morphing back into the typical old Kano— "or being a boy has any special differences." He smiled softly at Seto's drying tears and the shimmering glaze of his golden-brown eyes. The slightly shorter boy sniffled and wrapped his arms around the deceiver's body, resting his face on his shoulder. Kano exhaled gently and ran his hand through the raven-colored locks of Seto's hair before pressing a fleeting kiss to the boy's temple and urging him to move on.

When they got home, the first thing he did was place another, more proper kiss on Seto's forehead.


End file.
